PROJECT STORY
The challenge
More and more wind farms are being built, but local residents are often concerned about noise and shadow flicker from wind turbines.
Noise forecast app gives insights into noise, shadow flicker and experiences of wind turbines
Arcadis app strengthens communication between developers and local residents
The solution
The Noiseforecast app offers local residents insight into noise and shadow flicker of wind turbines, as well as the opportunity to share their experiences.
The impact
Residents have a better understanding of what to expect and feel heard. The operators gain better insight into how residents experience the wind turbines and can act accordingly.
500+ MW
Since 2017, the app has been applied to over 100 wind turbines, with a combined capacity of more than 500 MW.
7500+ feedbacks
Residents near wind farms have provided feedback more than 7,500 times on how they experience the wind turbines.
24/7
Real-time insight for operators into how residents experience the wind turbines under various weather conditions, turbine states, and environmental factors.
The challenge
Making our energy supply more sustainable is a top priority, and more and more wind farms will be built in the coming years. When developing these wind farms, however, local residents are often concerned about shadow flicker, landscapes being tarnished, ecological impacts and, in particular, noise pollution. These concerns cause unrest and reduce support for sustainable energy development.
The solution
Support from local residents increases if they feel heard by developers, local and provincial authorities, and operators. The interests of these stakeholders need to be carefully considered when developing and operating wind farms so that all parties can come together in a socially sustainable way to ensure a successful energy transition.
With this in mind, Arcadis developed an interactive app called Noiseforecast.app which gives local residents a hyper-local 48-hour forecast for the noise and shadow flicker of wind turbines. The app also presents a local weather forecast and how loud the wind turbines are compared to environmental noise. Local residents can report their experiences at any time of the day and can also see how much electricity is generated by the wind turbines. We use this feedback to monitor the impact of the turbines on residents and gain more knowledge about the influence of environmental noise and meteorological conditions on nuisance experienced by the residents. All this information enables a more effective noise management and communication strategy. This knowledge is also valuable in the development of new wind farms.
Everyone experiences sound differently. How loud the noise is not the only factor that needs to be considered. The character and unpredictability of wind turbine noise, the visibility of turbines and the person's attitude toward sustainable energy are all contributing factors. Moreover, the noise from wind turbines is highly dependent on the weather, and the background noise in an area also determines how local residents experience the sound of wind turbines. The Noiseforecast app takes all these factors into account.
The impact
Operators and authorities using the noise forecast app gain a better understanding of how residents near wind farms experience the wind turbines. Several wind farms are already utilizing this app to ensure good, continuous interaction with nearby residents. An initial project revealed that people living near a specific wind farm located alongside a highway experienced hardly any disturbance from the sound of the wind turbines, as the noise from the adjacent highway was more dominant. This resulted in a positive attitude toward wind turbines. In another project where annoyance was experienced, feedback from residents via the app was crucial in determining under which circumstances the nuisance occurred. This enabled targeted research into solutions, and continuous monitoring through the app showed that applying targeted measures improved the situation.
When residents know what to expect and can easily report nuisance, they are less likely to feel annoyed. By using the app Noiseforecast.app involved parties can better understand residents' experiences and consider their feedback when optimizing operational wind farms and when developing new wind farms. When residents notice that their concerns are taken seriously during the development and operation of wind farms, the energy transition can be achieved in a socially sustainable way.
Access to the app: www.noiseforecast.app
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